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Lithuanians longing for Mass in their own language BY MIKE PATRICK REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

WATERBURY — He was in his 80s, in poor health and had been retired more than a decade, but still the Rev. Francis V. Karvelis traveled throughout the state, celebrating Mass in Lithuanian at several churches, including St. Joseph's Lithuanian Church in the city's Brooklyn neighborhood.

Finally, last year, he had to stop, and St. Joseph's hasn't had a Lithuanian Mass since.

Several parishioners said they would like the tradition to begin again. But 120 years since the church was founded by Lithuanian immigrants, diocesan officials said there are no Lithuanian-speaking priests left, and the numbers of Lithuanian faithful at financially strapped St. Joseph's is dwindling.

"I feel it's important because there are some of the older people who would have attended the Lithuanian Mass and are not comfortable in the English Mass," said parishioner Linas Balsys, who is president of the city's council of the Knights of Lithuania.

"There's a large contingent of people my age and older who are recent immigrants who are not attending church except for Christmas and Easter," he said. "A priest like Father Karvelis... would have some effect of bringing these people in and making sure the church remained cogent to the needs of people there."

THE BROOKLYN NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE THE CHURCH is located had once been home to a large and vibrant Lithuanian community. But over time, many moved to the suburbs, and the area became depressed and blighted.

While some Lithuanian people still travel from the suburbs to the church for its sole Mass at 9 a.m., fewer than 100 worshipers attend, members said.

"I think the most important thing to remember is St. Joseph's is an ethnic parish, dating back to when it was formed in 1894. It's always had that Lithuanian connection," parishioner Jerry Covino, who served as an altar boy for Karvelis, said. "Without the Lithuanian Mass… to me, it kind of takes away from what makes it special. That Lithuanian portion that builds upon the culture of Lithuania, it's no more, it's gone, and it hurts."

The church itself is hurting, too — for money.

It now shares a pastor with nearby St. Patrick's Church and had its rectory demolished several years ago.

IN 2002, ST. JOSEPH'S SCHOOL CLOSED and the building was leased to the city. When the city no longer needed the space, it was put up for sale last year, and has been sitting empty ever since.

"In the less than two years I've been here, they've been going through savings to the tune of $200,000 already," the Rev. Norman Brockett, pastor of St. Patrick and St. Joseph parishes, said. "There's five buildings that the parish is responsible for. Last year the utilities alone were $35,000, for an empty building."

If that spending keeps up without any way to raise more money, he said, the church would be broke in less than 10 years and would likely have to close.

"I've been trying my best to get them to help... The unfortunate situation is there's a number of people there who don't want to have fundraisers and are not willing to take on that type of responsibility," he said.

Parishioner Marian Marcelynas Pelletier of Woodbury took exception to that, and said the closing of the school and parish center have made it more difficult to host fundraisers, and similar activities at St. Patrick's have taken precedence over struggling St. Joseph's.

Pelletier said re- establishing a Lithuanian Mass would encourage more Lithuanian people to become involved at St. Joseph's and help put money back in the coffers.

THE SO-CALLED "NEW WAVE" LITHUANIANS, those who arrived after the breakup of the Soviet Union and are eager for spiritual growth after having had it suppressed in their home country, would be the perfect audience for a Lithuanian Mass, she said.

"If we had someone, a deacon or priest, who could get involved with this group, they could encourage them come in and see what it's all about, come in and join with us," she said.

While St. Joseph's is not in any immediate danger of being shuttered, the Archdiocese of Hartford is also not likely to send another Lithuanian-speaking priest there, according to Msgr. Gerard Schmitz, the archdiocese's vicar for priests.

For one, he said, there simply are none in the archdiocese. There are, however, some elsewhere in the state, he said. He added, however, that the demand is so low in Waterbury — just 30 or so attended the Lithuanian Mass on any given weekend, churchgoers said — the numbers don't justify the expense of adding a priest there.

"The demographics changed in Waterbury. There are not people coming in from Lithuania like they were many years ago," Schmitz said. "The immigrants are not coming and the people are quite elderly now and the next generation has probably moved from the city."

Balsys said, however, the spiritual need of the parishioners outweighs demographic concerns.

"The archdiocese can say times change, but I feel, do we want to give up on everybody out there? Do we want to give up on every single person?" he said. "Isn't the goal of the Catholic Church to serve the faithful and not give up and fade away? Is that not the goal of our creator? That just doesn't seem right."

Contact Mike Patrick at mpatrick@rep-am.com, on Twitter @RA_MikePatrick or on Facebook at RA.Mike.Patrick.

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